New Sonny & Cher Compilations

September 2007 gave us two new Sonny & Cher compilations. I was a little hesitant to buy Forever Sonny and Cher by Warner Custom Products because I could find no picture online. I’ve been burned before on these fly-by-night compilation CDs. But then it arrived and I was so excited. The CD comes in a tin! A Sonny & Cher tin!! Glory-be! The booklet inside is pretty spartan (considering it comes in a tin!) and spells Cher’s last name Lapierre and calls her an aspiring singer. But there was a picture in there I hadn’t seen before with Sonny & Cher lying on the floor of their house, Sonny in what looks like snake skin boots. This is one of those rare pictures showing Sonny in mustache and Cher still in her 60s bangs.

The compilation itself however is a bit crazy. The tin (a tin!) comes with three CDs, all with different labels, the last one being extra copies of that bad compilation from the 1990s All I Ever Need is You – a title which still confounds Allmusic guide. They think the 90s compilation is the same as the original 70s studio album. See, they’re not so smart.

The first two CDs catalog some S&C 60s hits but is by no means comprehensive or educational. Sprinkled in are some sub-hits and a few B-side rarities ("Good Combination," "Have I Stayed Too Long," "Love Is Strange" and oddly one of Sonny’s LP songs "Revolution Kind"). And there is an unusual representation of S&C songs from their freshman album Look At Us.  The third disc picks up with S&C in the 70s and is the aforementioned left-over copies of All I Ever Need Is You including the misleading error that you will hear a version of "United We Stand" live. Back in the 90s I was so excited to read that when I plucked the CD out of a Tower Records bin in Yonkers, New York. But it was just a lie.

Disc: 1 
1. I Got You Babe 
2. Little Man 
3. Just You 
4. Good Combination 
5. But You’re Mine 
6. Beat Goes On 
7. Have I Stayed Too Long 
8. Beautiful Story 
9. It’s the Little Things 
10. What Now My Love 

Disc: 2 
1. Baby Don’t Go 
2. Laugh at Me [Sonny Solo] 
3. Living for You 
4. Love Is Strange 
5. 500 Miles 
6. Revolution Kind [Sonny Solo] 
7. Let It Be Me 
8. Unchained Melody 
9. Then He Kissed Me 
10. You Really Got a Hold on Me 

Disc: 3 
1. All I Ever Need Is You 
2. Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done 
3. When You Say Love 
4. Mama Was a Rock and Roll Singer and Papa Used to Write All Her Songs 
5. You Better Sit Down Kids 
6. Crystal Clear/Muddy Waters 
7. Beat Goes On 
8. I Got You Babe 
9. United We Stand 
10. Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) 

The tin compilation however turned out to be quite normal compared to Sonny & Cher Classics released by Rhino Flashback records. This one is compilation very similar to the one Rhino Flashback did a few years ago I Got You Babe with S&C playing bongos on a red and white checkered background. This compilation spells her last name La Piere and contains only one S&C hit: "Baby Don’t Go." The other hit is Sonny’s "Laugh at Me" and the rest is a few aforementioned B-sides similar to the other compilation and again lots of Look At Us material.

At the end of the day these compilations make no sense, have no cohesion and contain negligible rarities.

Disc  Tracks:
1. Baby Don’t Go. 
2. Laugh At Me 
3. Living For You. 
4. Love Is Strange. 
5. 500 Miles. 
6. Revolution Kind, The
7. Let It Be Me. 
8. Unchained Melody. 
9. Then He Kissed Me. 
10. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me. 

But I do enjoy rediscovering "500 Miles," the song they did made famous by Peter, Paul & Mary.